I Love Hot Air Ballooning! (Carolina Balloon Fest 2014)

(click pic to enlarge)  My view lifting off at the 2014 Carolina Balloon Fest in Statesville NC

 I've been very fortunate to get quite a bit of exposure to hot air ballooning in the last 2 years since my son-in-law Mitch has a commercial balloon rating and an basket with two envelopes, a 77,000 cubic foot and a 90,000. It works out well for me to be crew and chase vehicle driver when he has rides to fly... and now I'm in training in hopes of getting my rating before too long as well. I've been a fan of ballooning since I was about 12, so finally getting the chance to fly this way is tremendously satisfying.

(click pic to enlarge)  Note the parachute vent top being cycled thru the open position

 Mitch participated in the Carolina Balloon Fest again this year, and I was there helping him out some. I even got to go flying as the pictures here show! My wife and I took the opportunity to turn it all into a small vacation by heading over early in the week to visit the Biltmore mansion, and to just get away... and then Friday and Saturday I helped Mitch some with the balloon. The pictures are from Saturday morning when most of the approximately 55 balloons in attendance took to the skies.

 It was a beautiful morning for some lighter-than-air flying! And while the surface winds were nice and light, the winds at just 300 feet were scooting right along at about 14mph. Ballooning really teaches you that the wind is a far more complicated partner in flying than the typical fixed wing pilot understands. In addition to the vast difference in wind velocity that morning between the surface and 300 feet, there was about a 90 degree shift in the wind direction as well. It sure makes for some interesting flying!

 Btw, I didn't even take my DSLR camera on this vacation, so these pix are from my Galaxy Note II... the same phone that went thru the mower blades a few months back and didn't even get a scratch on it! Fortunately, my Otterbox Commuter case gave up its life to totally save the phone!

(click pic to enlarge)  We're departing the launch area... hot air ballooning sure is colorful!

 It's looking more and more like ballooning will be my point-of-entry back into having my own flying machine since for less than $10,000 you can fetch up an airworthy set up, and sometimes you can even get in the air for substantially less. You have to look around a bit and know what you're looking for, and obviously a very affordable set up most likely has much of its useful life already used up. But compared to my $25,000 to $40,000 Piper Cub desires, ballooning can be quite affordable.

(click pic to enlarge)  Looking into the sun at the balloons that launched ahead of us

(click pic to enlarge)  Looking away from the sun at the balloons that launched after us

(click pic to enlarge)  Just above the trees as we navigate toward a landing spot

 Hot air ballooning is challenging and a lot more work than I'm guessing most fixed wing pilots understand... and I love it!

(click pic to enlarge)  Another launch pic... this time with the sun shining over the owl

(click pic to enlarge)  This 'When Pigs Fly' balloon landed near us... Pigs of a feather?

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Warsaw Indiana Rocks A Great Little Airshow! (Plus Hot Air Balloon CoolPix)

(click pic for hi-res)  Friday night at the Warsaw Indiana Airshow  (photo: Andy Kerr)

 This post is really all about having the chance to share the awesome photo above captured in my hometown by local photgrapher Andy Kerr during last weekend's Warsaw Airshow. This was the second year for an airshow at the Warsaw Airport (ASW) and even more than last year's kind-of-a-surprise success, this event was awesome with great attendance! Congratulations to the organizers, volunteers, and sponsors that made it all happen. (note: I wasn't involved in any way other than to participate) - I did however help my son-in-law with the hot air balloon tethered rides on Friday evening and the Saturday morning launch. His balloon is the one in the air in the pic above, tethered late evening rides!

(click pic to enlarge) The C-54 Candy Bomber flew several times and was open to tour

 I've been living in Warsaw Indiana for almost 20 years now... it's a nice, small city of about 14,000 that has a good sized airport due in part to the city being the Orthopedic Capital with major players in the industry headquartered here. While the Warsaw Airport doesn't usually show a fun side, this Friday evening and all day Saturday it was pure passion and sport aviation central! I'm thrilled to see that this is possible right here in my backyard : )

(click pic to enlarge) Great weather Friday, and nice Saturday for airplanes & people

 The big features this year were the C-54 (DC-4) Candy Bomber from Berlin Airlift Histrorical Foundation, plus Dave Folk's F-4U Corsair,  along with a T-33, several T-6's, and a variety of other aircraft on display. The airshow included all the big aircraft mentioned plus a Pitts, a Chipmunk, and a Super Stearman, as well as some fun runway races between cars and airplanes, and a motorcycle racing the Chipmunk as well as doing a wingtip handshake with it! There were also lots and lots of airplane rides sold both days in Waldo Wright's New Standard 4-pax biplane, along with helicopter rides, hot air balloon rides and some local 172 rides. I was very pleased to see how much business they were all doing! Great food and both live and recorded music gave it all a nice festival atmosphere too. 

(click pic to enlarge) 4 passengers at at a time! 1931 New Standard biplane 

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Video: Fascinating Historical Account Of The 1965 Reno Air Races (Progress In The Air)

 This recently uploaded gem of a video is an old-school professionally produced film that chronicled the wide variety of aviation related activities taking place during the 1965 Reno Air Races. It's 21 minutes long but very well worth your time if you have any interest in the era that defined so much of what modern aviation is all about today.

A young Bob Hoover talks about how the 23 year old P-51 design still flies beautifully

 National air racing had just returned the year before in 1964 when the first Reno Air Races took place at the Sky Ranch airport just north of Sparks Nevada. Bill Stead was the driving force behind the rebirth of national air racing and it's great to see him in this video.

 Lots of dirt and a short runway were pretty much all they had, but the event included aerobatics, parachuting, hot air ballooning, the US Air Force Thunderbirds in the F-100D Super Sabre, and of course various classes of air racing. Those first two years of the Reno Air Races were an amazing celebration of a love for flight no matter the machine used to accomplish it.

Before the Red Devils, before the Eagles Aerobatic Team... a young Charlie Hillard

 I was fortunate as a young kid to experience Reno from 1967 thru 1970, and much of what is seen at the Sky Ranch in this video reminds me of the early years at Stead Airfield. It's interesting to note several things about the Stead name as it relates to these early Reno years. Bill Stead, a late 1950's world speed boat champion, pulled the first two events together after retiring from boats and moving on to racing airplanes. The location for these first two years was the Sky Ranch, but the airport was barely up to the task of handling the larger aircraft. Tragically, Bill Stead was killed a short time later in 1966 in a Florida crash of his midget racer in preparation for the St Petersburg races. The airplane was the newly acquired Deer Fly racer that had been the winner in the 1965 races at Sky ranch, as seen in the video.

A fascinating look at the early days of the modern hot air balloon movement

 For 1966, the National Air Races moved from Sky Ranch to what had been Stead Air Force base, named in honor of Bill Stead's brother Croston Stead who had been killed in a P-51 training accident at the base in 1951. When the base was deactivated in 1966 and turned over to the city of Reno, it was renamed Stead Airfield. Today it's known as Reno Stead Airport. The excellent facilities of Reno Stead have served the races well for nearly all of the 50 year history of the modern National Championship Air Races, known simply as the Reno Air Races... and the memory of two Reno brothers lives on.

Mira Slovak trying to win again, but Darryl Greenamyer started his win streak instead

This is definitely a must see video if you're interested in sport aviation history!

The Thunderbirds after replacing the short run F-105's with the F-100D Super Sabre

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Hot Air Balloons... Are Hot! (4 CoolPix Of Fire)

(click pic for hi-res) My son-in-law's balloon during the Saturday evening 'glow'

 This last Friday thru Sunday I went with my son-in-law Mitch as part of his High Life Ballooning crew to Huntington Indiana for the balloon festival that's part of their Heritage Days. The plan was to fly Friday evening, Saturday morning and evening, and then finish with another flight Sunday morning. There was also a planned 'glow' for after dark on Saturday night. Unfortunately the weather wound up being just barely unacceptable and the only thing we accomplished was taking part in the glow with 12 other balloons on Saturday night.

(click pic for hi-res)  It's hard to beat beautiful colors and a big blast of fire!

 A balloon glow is a beautiful thing to see, and it's just as beautiful to participate in, but since you never really leave the ground it still takes second place to actually going flying. Regardless, for the sake of the festival and the local community, I'm really glad the weather was more than acceptable for the glow to take place. An added bonus of a being right there in the thick of the glow is taking pictures of the fire coming out of the burners... and since there's a pyromaniac living inside me, I get a lot pleasure out of the experience : )

(click pic for hi-res) Yep, it gets kinda hot when you're helping a balloon fill with hot air!

 As it turned out, two local pilots did fly on Saturday evening with their commercially sponsored balloons, but all the other pilots elected to stay on the ground since the weather was a tad uncertain and they weren't familiar with the local surroundings and landing sites. I was able to get some pix as these two balloons inflated and it's no surprise that my focus was on catching the fire.

(click pic for hi-res) Millions of BTU's get the envelope off the ground pretty quickly!

 All things considered it was a great weekend even tho we didn't get Mitch's balloon off the ground. With two official training flights in the last 5 weeks in my logbook now, I'm on the way to attempting to get my balloon rating this summer... and the truth is, even if we don't get off the ground, I'm happy anytime I get to be around a couple hundred pounds of beautiful fabric, some wicker, and lots and lots of fire!

check out over 160 posts in the AirPigz CoolPix category

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GoPro Video: Crazy Slackline Fun Between Two Hot Air Balloons!

 I'm pretty sure I have no slacklining skills, but with two hot air balloon flying lessons in the books in the last few weeks I can definitely relate somewhat to what's going on here. Actually, what's really going on here is the masterful marketing of the GoPro HERO3+ video cam but I'm guessing you already had that figured out. They've been pushing an even bigger boatload of awesome HD videos here lately in their continuing effort to not go the way of Flip Video... product innovation and hot marketing at GoPro have kept them at the top of the heap for quite a while now, but things sure can change fast. #watchyourback

Video screenshot: Andy Lewis slacklining between two hot air balloons at 4,000 feet

 Anyway, this is Andy Lewis, a highly skilled slackline competitor who also is a BASE jumper and rock climber, and here he's walking the line between two hot air balloons at 4,000 feet. I call it cool stuff, well done.

Video screenshot: the view looking up after falling off the slackline

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Must See GoPro Video: Re-Experience Felix Baumgartner's Jump From The Edge Of Space (Red Bull Stratos)

 This GoPro video was just released on Friday and it's already well past 3 million views... and it's easy to understand why once you've seen it. It's an all-new view of Felix Baumgartner's Red Bull Stratos jump from nearly 128,000 feet above the Earth's surface, and for me it was every bit as intense seeing it from these seven GoPro cameras as it was seeing it live on October 14, 2012.

 I haven't met Felix Baumgartner but I did meet and talk with both Joe Kittinger and Red Bull Stratos Technical Project Director Art Thompson at Oshkosh 2013 and I must say that these men are two of the nicest guys I've ever met. I was very impressed with their kindness as human beings, and would imagine Felix is cut from the same cloth. Knowing that these good people were at the core of the Red Bull Stratos project makes me respect what was accomplished on that day all the more.

 And to quote Felix while standing on the step about to jump: "Sometimes, you have to be up really high... to understand how small you are."  #humility

(more Red Bull Stratos posts on AirPigz)

(click pic to enlarge) GoPro HERO2 HD screenshot of Felix Baumgartner just off the step

Video: Time-Lapse Mass Ascension At The Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta!

 I highly recommend you watch the video above for it's fabulous time-lapse presentation of hundreds and hundreds of hot-air balloons lifting off at the recent Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta... and then, you should watch the video below that includes more great balloon scenes but also some great overview narration about the event. The 42nd running of the event ran October 5-13 this year and once again proved to be the largest balloon gathering anywhere in the world!

 
 I've always marveled at this event simply because balloons are awesome, and a collection of over 700 balloons in one spot is much more awesome! This is also an exciting time for me as I have had the opportunity to do balloon crew work often in the last year for my son-in-law Mitch who is both a fixed wing and balloon pilot. This has led to having the opportunity to plan to get my balloon rating in the next 6 months. If things go well I might even be buying a used set up so I can work toward running a sideline balloon ride operation. I'll add here that finally emerging from the financial crisis of the last 5 years sure feels good! 

 My interest in hot-air balloons is nothing new. I traveled to Statesville North Carolina back in the early 80's to get my first balloon ride from an employee of the Balloon Works (now FireFly Baloons) and got a great tour of the factory. I almost got my rating back in the mid 80's when my dad was considering setting up a ride operation. That idea didn't fully materialize back then, but here I am about 30 years later with the chance to see it all come together.

 There's also a fair chance that I'll be at Albuquerque next year if Mitch is able to get thru the registration process. I've offered to drive the truck and trailer out there and crew all week for him. Can you imagine the images I could capture there! I'm confident that nine days at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta would be one of my life's greatest memories!

Video screenshot of a mass ascension recently at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

Godspeed Felix Baumgartner (Red Bull Stratos) - Spacedive Balloon Launch Set For Early Sunday Morning 10-14-12

 The video above shows the attempt to launch Felix Baumgartner out of Roswell New Mexico last Tuesday (October 9, 2012) as part of the Red Bull Stratos project, an effort to make a jump from the edge of space at 120,000. The video shows how to winds were too strong to launch, and that Felix had hopes that they would be able to try the launch again two days later on the 11th. The weather forecast wasn't favorable for the 11th, but it is currently favorable for a launch early Sunday morning October 14, 2012, presumably at 8am EDT / 6am MDT.

WATCH LIVE: the launch, ascent, and jump by Felix Baumgartner will be broadcast live via RedBullStratos.com/live - this is also your best source for an update on the current launch countdown.

UPDATE: 9:48am EDT Sunday October 14, 2012
Red Bull Stratos update was just given at www.redbullstratos.com/live - Winds are calm on the ground but again blowing too strong at 700 feet. Felix is in the capsule and ready but the balloon is not inflated and the launch is on hold until 9am MDT (11am EDT / 8am PDT) - winds are expected to be suitable around 9am MDT.

click pic to enlarge - then right click to save for use as a cover pic on your facebook page

 You might want to join me in showing support for Felix by making the above pic your facebook cover pic for the day. Click the pic to enlarge it, then right click and save-as to save the pic on your computer... then you can upload it and set it as your cover pic on your facebook page.

 There's another interesting twist to the attempt to make the spacedive on Sunday October 14, 2012. This date is 65 years to the day since Chuck Yeager was the first person to fly an aircraft faster than the speed of sound. He accomplished this on October 12, 1947 flying the Bell X-1. Even more, 89 year old Chuck Yeager will celebrate this date by riding in the back of an F-15 that will go supersonic at essentially the same time and place that he did it back in 1947. They will depart Nellis AFB near Las Vegas and then travel to the area around Edwards AFB (called Muroc at the time) to recreate the supersonic flight. You can learn more in this article: Famous pilot Yeager re-enacting right stuff 65 years later.

 But the big news tomorrow will be about Felix Baumgartner and his attempt to be the first person to go supersonic without being inside an aircraft. He may attain a speed of 690 mph while in freefall, a speed sufficient to push him past the speed of sound!

Godspeed Felix Baumgartner.

Winds Cancel Red Bull Stratos (Felix Baumgartner) Spacedive Launch Attempt 10.9.12

Felix Baumgartner after balloon launch for 120,000' spacedive was cancelled due to wind

Red Bull Stratos spacedive to be re-scheduled... 
possibly as early as Thursday October 11, 2012
(check RedBullStratos.com/live for schedule and live broadcast)

UPDATE: 6:34pm Wednesday October 10, 2012
Next launch attempt tentatively scheduled for Sunday October 14 as the weather forecast shows that Thursday's weather will not be suitable. The next weather window for Felix Baumgartner and Red Bull Stratos opens on Sunday Oct 14 - a three day pre-alert as well as daily weather updates will follow and lead into the next launch day... watch RedBullStratos.com/live for official updates.
 

 A lot of people all over the world were watching and hoping for the massive 29.47 million cubic foot helium balloon to be completely filled and launched out of Roswell New Mexico today, but the winds were too strong to safely launch. An early morning attempt to send Felix Baumgartner up to a record breaking 120,000 feet for a freefall from the edge of space was re-scheduled for later in the day (approximately 1:30pm EDT) but at 1:42 EDT the mission was aborted as the winds were just too strong to launch the balloon. The entire Red Bull Stratos team is now working to calculate when the attempt can be tried once again... possibly as early as Thursday October 11, 2012. The intent is the same as before, to reach 120,000 feet for the spacedive back to Earth.

 Felix Baumgartner entering the Red Bull Stratos capsule for the launch attempt today

 This is the third and final Red Bull Stratos jump planned... and the one that is expected to break the record jump set on August 16, 1960 by Joe Kittinger (USAF Captain at the time of the record, later a Colonel) of 102,800 feet as part of Project Excelsior. The first Red Bull Stratos jump was made by Felix from 71,581 feet on March 15, 2012 and the second from 96,640 feet on July 25, 2012. This third mission will shatter the 1960 record if they reach the intended altitude of 120,000 feet.

Helium balloon minutes before cancelling the launch due to wind at 1:42 EDT on 10.9.12

 The are many risks and hazards associated with a project like this, but the first two jumps by Felix have gone much smoother than the serious challenges Joe Kittinger experienced in his three high altitude jumps (more on that in a future post) - but the expectations are high for a successful mission for Felix, and hopefully that'll take place very soon.

 It's truly remarkable that Joe Kittinger is participating in the Red Bull Stratos project as a technical advisor and inspirational cheerleader... and the picture below of Felix (born 1969) and Joe (born 1928) together is really rather amazing when you consider what these men have accomplished and how many years are between their efforts.

 You might be interested in checking out this excellent book: Come Up and Get Me: An Autobiography of Colonel Joe Kittinger - and if you purchase it (or any other products) after using this link, AirPigz receives a small referral payment from Amazon. It doesn't cost you anything extra and AirPigz gets some much needed support!

 Felix Baumgartner (Red Bull Stratos) and Joe Kittinger (Project Excelsior) together

Godspeed Red Bull Stratos.

Video: Red Bull Stratos Spacedive (Felix Baumgartner) Delayed Til Tuesday 10-9-12

Animation of the process set to unfold tomorrow - the Red Bull Stratos spacedive

UPDATE: 9:47am Tuesday October 9, 2012
LAUNCH DELAYED - earliest launch time now 1:30pm EDT.
(Watch RedBullStratos.com/live for launch update info) Winds on the surface in Roswell are light but at 800 feet they were about 20mph... the winds must be very light from the surface to approximately 1,000 feet so that the entire balloon is experiencing the same wind for the launch process.

(7 pix and 2 videos)

 The Red Bull Stratos spacedive from 120,000 feet (at the edge of space) was scheduled to take place today with a launch in Roswell New Mexico, but weather issues have pushed the attempt back until tomorrow, Tuesday October 9, 2012. You're probably already somewhat familiar with Felix Baumgartner and this effort to break the 120,800 foot jump record set by Joseph Kittinger back in 1960, and you might even know that Kittinger (now 84 years old) is participating in the program as a technical advisor and inspirational cheerleader, but do you know much about the details of the equipment for the jump? If not, check out the following info to get your self 'up to speed' so to speak.

 BE ADVISED: the Red Bull Stratos spacedive will be broadcast live at RedBullStratos.com/live with a target launch time of 5am Pacific time / 8am Eastern time. As I understand it, the ascent to 120,000 feet will take less than three hours, so the jump from the capsule might occur before noon Eastern time. Be sure to check out the 'how to watch live page' to get more info on the various options for viewing the mission. An extensive broadcast effort with 35 cameras has been put in place - this might be really amazing coverage! You can also get an alert about the launch time by joining the Red Bull Stratos Mission - Live on facebook.

Felix Baumgartner may be in this spot tomorrow - at 120,000 feet ready to jump

Live broacast details - where to watch and what to expect, plus brief mission overview

From launch to landing - the full Red Bull Stratos mission sequence

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